To New Horizons(2nd ed game, game thread)

[dplax]

Anne

The amount of blood and Tamora's account left little doubt to it. Gan was probably lost to them, and quite possibly dead. Anne turned to Balth, intent on adressing his last comment.

"How did you know that Gan was dead?" she asked. Balth was starting to seem more and more suspicious to Anne and if it hadn't been for Tamora following the tracks, and not spotting any, which belonged to Balth, of which she would have surely spoken, her tone would have been much more accusatory.

[Caleb808]

Ulik gathers his new toys and drags Evon along to the stone ladder. He sends Evon down first, in case his impaired ally should slip and cause them both to fall, then descends after him.

[PurpleXVI]

Lorath

"I will be around," stated the strange stranger, "In the shadows or in the water, until you have the vault open, it could be a setback if I startled your friend." Then he slipped under the dark surface of the water and squeezed himself down through a crack in the floor that Lorath hadn't noticed before, leaving the elf alone.

Ascending through the corridors, Lorath eventually arrived at an empty room some time after the floor had risen above the water. On the other side of the small room, beyond a doorway, he could see a massive cave where the river he had crossed earlier ended in a waterfall. Glowing fungus covering many of the stalagtites on the cave's ceiling made it possible to see the scene easily.

Just outside of the door was a platform which was just above the surface of the water, coming from somewhere to the left of the door, apparently on the platform, the elf could hear Ulik telling Evon to climb down a ladder.


Ulik, Evon

Evon looked apprehensively at the ladder, then laid down on the platform, sticking his head over the edge to stare into the depths. After a few seconds he spat into the abyss and listened intently for a few seconds. He seemed to consider his options for a while, then stood up and gave Ulik an incredulous look, followed up by a rude gesture.

Foggy the man's mind probably was, but there seemed to be a sense of self-preservation remaining. It was doubtful that he was going to descend the spray-slick, age-worn steps willingly.

Behind them, from within the room they had just exited, they could hear footsteps, accompanied by the sound of wet fabric dragging and sloshing across the stone floor.


Ulik, Evon, Lorath

Lorath stepped forth from the room and saw Evon coldly showing Ulik his displeasure, not appearing to care that the elf had just arrived on the scene, wearing soaking wet robes, covered by a garishly-coloured hooded cloak, and with a serpentine tail protruding out under the hem.

The other two had boringly enough elected not to acquire new clothes or modify their bodies in the few hours since they'd parted ways.


Tamora, Anne, Bas, Balth

"Well it appears that he's not," replied Balth, then he walked over and poked the halfling's corpse with the tip of his boot, as if assuring himself that it wasn't going to stand up and start talking, "However, if you had opened your ears, something that's damn important around here, you'd have heard I said that no one survives for long around here on their own. Look at this poor guy, torn apart by something with huge teeth, even I would have been dead if you four hadn't come along in time."

While Bas and Tamora talked about the situation, he studied Anne briefly, "In fact, we've just seen that it isn't his corpse, yet you're declaring him dead, maybe you're the one we should be suspicious of, hm? You strike me as light of foot, and fingers, perhaps you've slipped something into his rations, into his waterskin? There are many terrible poisons that can cause delirium..."

When no one else was looking, he gave the rogue a humourless smile, but said nothing further.

"Now if you want my opinion," he spoke to Tamora, putting on a friendlier smile than the one he had given Anne, after she had analyzed the situation, "There are probably tracks from your friend, not to insult your skills as a tracker, but they could easily have gotten lost in all those other footprints. You all came from the west, didn't you? At least, you did when I first met you. He must've gotten lost or panicked somehow, found the river and decided it was safer than wandering through the jungle. Probably waded through the edge of it to hide his tracks."

Bas did not spot any large predators prepared to leap upon the party, but he saw marks in the upper branches of the nearby trees which suggested that something with large claws had been crawling around in them. Judging by the number of claw-marks, and the fact that they varied a lot in size, it actually seemed like there was more than one of whatever it was.

[ 03-07-2007, 04:08 PM: Message edited by: PurpleXVI ]

[Armen]

Tamora

Tamora doubted Balth’s reading of the situation. He was wrong about Gan’s tracks and hadn’t taken into account that Gan had made no attempt to cover them thus far. She feared that he was probably closer to the likely outcome however and agreed with his suggested course of action. But still there was that nagging suspicion that they were abandoning Gan.

“Thank you Balth for your advice – I fear that it contains much wisdom. The only choices I see are between upstream or down. Down will take us back to the lake and is more likely to be the route Gan would have taken for that and other reasons. I do not wish to abandon Gan but I don’t believe we can hope to find him without a trail. I think we should travel back to the lake along the river and keep alert for signs of Gan or the halflings.”

She looked intently to Anne and Bas, trying to discern their reaction to her words, particularly Anne’s. She looked up at the sky squinting at the baking sun. “It is noon now and though I would want to put some distance between us and this place by nightfall we have a little time. I think Balth and I should scout swiftly upstream for an hour and if we find nothing, come back then continue down.”

While waiting for the others to consider the plan she asked Balth what he knows of the halflings. If all agree then she’ll do it. Crossing the river here heading upstream for an hour then crossing back for the return.

[Man Who Fights Like Woman]

At first Lorath was confused as to why Ulik and Evon were wondering whether to go down the stairs. Then he realized it didn't matter, as they were still unmodified as his new friend would say, even if they didn't have his same taste in clothing. After the usual reintroductions such as asking them how they've been, if they found anything cool, and if Evon was going to share any of his shrooms (ooc: he only asked as a joke, it was well known that Evon would never part with even one), he pointed back the way he came. "I found a door, but I need your help to open it," he said. "Apparently it's hiding some kind of artifacts, though, and it looks a lot safer than what you seem to be doing."

[Caleb808]

Ulik was about to respond to Evon with his own string of obscenities and gestures when Lorath finds them. He raises an eyebrow as he looks at Lorath's coat and tail, saying "Well, those are new. And anything is safer then going back in to those ruins."

He shows Lorath the notebook he found that warned of the dangerous parasites. "If you still want to go back in after reading that, then help me with this first." he says, laying the flattened birdcage on the ground. "It seems we'll all have to pull at it from different sides to set it up...how do you know that door is hiding artifacts behind it, anyway? And what can we do to help you open it?"

[ 03-07-2007, 08:02 PM: Message edited by: Caleb808 ]

[Man Who Fights Like Woman]

Lorath nodded as he read the parasite-related passages, and made a note to curse the party that had been here before and unleashed these symbiotes. One day he would have to have them removed, even if it killed him. For the moment though he wanted to get inside that room and find out what was on the other side, so he figured it would be a good idea to help Ulik open the cage.

He stood opposite Ulik and moved so that he, Ulik and Evon would be evenly spaced as they tried to open it. "Someone who's been here for a while told me," Lorath replied to Ulik's question. "He also seems to think that the door reacts negatively to people who are currently hosting symbiotes. I figure that we can try it, and if it is a double-cross we'll still outnumber him three to one."

[Kazilan]

Bas frowned as Balth and Anne bickered. He was grateful for Tamora's presence, as she seemed to be able to handle the others and also come up with useful suggestions for their current situation.

"I can not communicate with plants, at least not in a way that would help us here. However, judging by the marks on the trees I would guess that there are more predators around than the one that killed this halfling. While I won't protest against your desire to search upstream for Gan, I think that Anne and I should head towards the lake. You and Balth can catch up with us after your search, as our pace will be slowed by Anne's injury."

[PurpleXVI]

(OOC: This post is entirely for reference, but do NOT post any more on this thread, I have requested it be locked, wait till I make a new thread.)

Lorath, Ulik, Evon

It took the trio a few tries before they managed to get a good start on unfolding the structure, their first attempts produced warning, metal screeches as various parts scraped along or got stuck on each other. The object quickly began to take on a puzzling shape as they worked on it, however, that of a three-sided pyramid taller than Ulik and four feet wide along each of the base's sides.

One of the three faces, the one that Evon faced as they work, eventually stood almost vertical, while the others leaned into it.

When they finished, several small catches seemed to click into place. They could collapse it again, if they wanted to bring it along, but they didn't need to stand around, holding it up.

At first, nothing odd seemed to be going on, but then Evon started laughing and stuck his hand through the face of the pyramid he was standing in front of, it promptly disappeared up to his elbow, but without any of the bleeding, screaming or horror that this would normally be accompanied by. He then withdrew it, and it returned. Repeating this a few times seemed to entertain him to no end. Then he stepped through entirely, and disappeared from view.

Walking around the structure to where Evon had stood, Ulik and Lorath could see that the thing appeared to have opened a doorway in the air. On the other side was an expanse of cobblestones, surrounded by a low stone battlement, under a cloud-covered twilight sky. A mild breeze was blowing from the doorway, and Evon was standing just on the other side, but other than that it seemed surprisingly unremarkable for a portal.


Bas, Tamora, Anne, Balth

Balth stayed silent as he scouted upriver with Tamora, seeming grim and on guard for anything terrible that might ambush them. Both of them found nothing, however, neither an ambush, halflings or any sign of Gan, and soon returned downriver again, catching up with Bas and Anne easily. Those two had stumbled across anything terrible either.

With no vegetation in their path, the group made swift progress, it also helped that they were moving slightly downhill, away from the mountains, their first day of travel passed without incident.

On the second day, the river widened and deepened as they moved onwards, it's waters also seemed to run considerably swifter. The surrounding jungle wasn't much different, though, there were a few flowers and plants they hadn't seen before growing near the rushing water, but otherwise all was normal.

Shortly before noon, however, something happened. They were walking along the riverbank, Balth splashing through the water's edge, occasionally examining an interesting shell or picking up a smooth rock from the riverbed to send skipping downstream, when there was a commotion on the opposite side of the river.

A halfling burst from the thick vegetation, covered in blood, grime and terrible wounds, her war-paint smeared. She didn't seem to notice the group at all, instead, she seemed entirely focused on two things: The river in front of her and something behind her. As she reached the river she stood as still as a rock and listened, when something rustled close-by behind her, she began wading into the river. It went well till she was about a third across and the water reached to her chest, then she seemed to slip on something and went under, disappearing from view.

Whatever had been behind her seemed to move around in the vegetation some, then retreated, making no more sounds.

A few miles farther downstream they found her again, dead. She looked as though she had drowned.